Week 6 - Challenger ($50,000) - West Lakes, Australia (Hard)

Spectator · All-time great

RE: Week 6 - Challenger ($50,000) - West Lakes, Australia (Hard)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

imoen wrote:
indiana wrote:
Nice people in New Zealand, I found on my travels a few years ago, although I was just in North Island. Maybe me being Scottish helped :)

You're in New Zealand aren't you, Imoen ? ( or is that a were in NZ since I notice you posting more again here and during our daytime ? )
It's a was, I spent a couple of months travelling both islands but had to come back in November I'm English rather than Scottish but I still found New Zealanders to be very nice people always with a smile & a hello if you meet anyone on a walk - I got some very strange looks when I picked up the habit and brought it back here....I lost it again very rapidly!!

In France, you always say 'bonjour' when you walk into a shop - yes, I spent the first months back here getting some VERY weird looks as i tried hard to break myself of the habit.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
imoen wrote:
indiana wrote:
Nice people in New Zealand, I found on my travels a few years ago, although I was just in North Island. Maybe me being Scottish helped :)

You're in New Zealand aren't you, Imoen ? ( or is that a were in NZ since I notice you posting more again here and during our daytime ? )
It's a was, I spent a couple of months travelling both islands but had to come back in November I'm English rather than Scottish but I still found New Zealanders to be very nice people always with a smile & a hello if you meet anyone on a walk - I got some very strange looks when I picked up the habit and brought it back here....I lost it again very rapidly!!

In France, you always say 'bonjour' when you walk into a shop - yes, I spent the first months back here getting some VERY weird looks as i tried hard to break myself of the habit.

And au revoir when you leave it! wink I've always considered it a charming custom. smile

steven · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
imoen wrote:
indiana wrote:
Nice people in New Zealand, I found on my travels a few years ago, although I was just in North Island. Maybe me being Scottish helped :)

You're in New Zealand aren't you, Imoen ? ( or is that a were in NZ since I notice you posting more again here and during our daytime ? )
It's a was, I spent a couple of months travelling both islands but had to come back in November I'm English rather than Scottish but I still found New Zealanders to be very nice people always with a smile & a hello if you meet anyone on a walk - I got some very strange looks when I picked up the habit and brought it back here....I lost it again very rapidly!!

In France, you always say 'bonjour' when you walk into a shop - yes, I spent the first months back here getting some VERY weird looks as i tried hard to break myself of the habit.

I've lived in south London for 20 years and I still say hello if I walk into a shop and it seems natural to do so. I wouldn't go out of my way to do it (e.g. I wouldn't do it immediately on walking in if the till was at the far end of the shop and I probably wouldn't do it in a big shop, unless I was lingering in a department looking at things), but in a small shop passing the owner/assistant at a till, I definitely would, and it nearly always gets me a hello back rather than a funny look. It doesn't always get a smile, admittedly, but an acknowledgement at least.

Out and about in London, again people tend to say hello if it's natural to do so and wouldn't imply saying hello 20 times a minute - e.g. you wouldn't say hello to everyone while walking down a busy shopping street but you probably would if you were walking in the park and walked past someone coming the other way, especially if it wasn't very busy. Having said that, there's probably a bit of a generation gap - people older than you are more likely to say hello than people younger than you.

Maybe you only go to the 'cool' shops wink where they are too 'cool' to be friendly.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

No, not at all ! This was in Watford ! Not many cool shops in Watford . . . (another story) . . . just a LOT of highly suspicious looks.

I'm now in London and the 'rules' seem a little different (ie better). Probably thanks to a large number of non-native-English shopkeepers. So i have a half-way house system now, of nodding to the shopkeeper, if not actually saying hello - by the way, is it just me or does 'hello' seem a little strange and 'good morning/afternoon' seem more appropriate - which makes me seem even more weird and like something out of Dickens . .. I actally find it easier to say 'hi' when I walk into a shop than 'hello' - there's something about 'hello' . . . . so i usually now mutter hi' and do the faintest of nods, and sometimes do nothing and just occasionally go for the full-blooded 'Good morning', just to shake 'em up a bit.

Spectator · All-time great

Good to hear that London is friendlier than I thought!

I always remember going with a local friend to a shop in a small town in the US. As I wandered in, the shopkeeper looked up and said (in our vague general direction) something along the lines of "Well, hello. It's nice to see you. How are you?" I assumed she was speaking to someone behind us whom she knew, so didn't respond, to the manifest embarrassment of my friend, who stage-whispered "She's talking to you!" The vague customs of "Hello" I was used to ... conversation, though ...

wolf · Tennis legend

If anyone wants to see how Cam plays, his match is archived - http://new.livestream.com/ATP/events/2732002

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Thanks for that Wolf - at least now I know he's left-handed !

(In passing, and from seeing that, I think US college is a great choice for him)